1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid supplying device, a liquid ejecting apparatus including the liquid supplying device, and a liquid supplying method.
2. Related Art
In the related art, a recording apparatus that prints characters and images by ejecting an ink onto paper from a recording head (liquid ejecting unit) is known as an example of a liquid ejecting apparatus. Among such recording apparatuses, there is an apparatus that includes a sub-tank (intermediate storage) that stores an ink to be supplied to a recording head, a main tank (liquid supply source) that stores an ink to be supplied to the sub-tank, an ink supply path that connects the sub-tank and the main tank, and a depressurizing pump that depressurizes the inside of the sub-tank (for example, JP-A-2000-263807).
In the recording apparatus, an ink is supplied (replenishment) from the main tank to the sub-tank via the ink supply path by bringing the inside of the sub-tank into a depressurization state by means of the operation of the depressurizing pump. Next, when the supply of the ink to the sub-tank is terminated, the depressurization state of the sub-tank is released so as to be in a state where an ink can be supplied from the sub-tank to the recording head, and printing is performed by the recording head.
However, in the recording apparatus described above, an ink stored in the sub-tank cannot be supplied to the recording head since the inside of the sub-tank is depressurized while an ink is being supplied to the sub-tank. That is, in such a recording apparatus described above, the recording head cannot perform printing while an ink is being supplied to the sub-tank.
Such a problem is not limited to the recording apparatus, and is mostly common to a liquid supplying device that supplies liquid from an intermediate storage, which stores liquid supplied from a liquid supply source, to a liquid ejecting unit, a liquid ejecting apparatus including the liquid supplying device, and a liquid supplying method.